Thatched Rooves and Earthen Floors

Our last day in Takayama, we decided to visit the Hida Folk Village. We had toyed with the idea of visiting Shirakawa-go, a very picturesque and historical mountain village in the Northern Alps. However, there is no way to access the village without booking a formal tour, and it is a reasonable distance to travel. (Around two hours each way, I think). So, we decided to check out a local village, with many old farmhouses, some that were existing in the area and others that had painstakingly been disassembled and reassembled in the traditional way. Hida Folk Village is only a 10 minute local bus ride from Takayama station, and it was really very cool.

The village consists of various styles of farm houses built between 100 and 500 years ago. The thatched rooves of the buildings were incredible. Traditional Japanese building methods use joinery and no nails. The rooves were incredible. The design of the buildings allows for smoke to gather in the ceiling area and keeps the thatching free of pests. The village was very pretty and the kids were all pretty interested in the history.

There were many examples of different types of tools and even clothing on display. A particularly excellent example of sashiko- decorative, reinforcement stitching, which is done on indigo dyed linen. So beautiful. And the view of the snow covered peaks of the Alps in the distance was spectacular.

Our last evening in Takayama we spent walking around the very quiet streets in the dark, and cold, and enjoying the peace. Takayama was not really on my radar, but I am so very happy we stumbled across it. It is definitely one of my favourite places that I have visited in Japan. Additionally, Takayama is a sake brewery hot spot, and Super Sake Boy and I plan to come back and enjoy the breweries at our leisure, with no kids giving us stick about how much time we allow for sake activities.